This Week In The Pac-10, Week 5: Oregon vs. Stanford, ASU vs. OSU and the full football schedule

This is the first weekend without a non-league game in the Pac-10. Usually you get to ease into the conference season with a couple easy games before the big boys butt heads at the end of the year.

This year is a little different.

There could be multiple heavyweight battles out west this year but the one in Eugene on Saturday may end up being the biggest. On the one hand it’s a shame that it’s happening so early but why wait until both teams have a loss? It’s hard to argue with two undefeated top-ten teams in the prime time national game of the week.

Sometimes it’s OK to eat your dessert first.

The TWIT-Pac TV schedule:

Sat. Oct. 2 (all times Arizona/Pacific)

Road Team

Home Team

Time

TV

WSU

UCLA

12:30 p.m.

FSNW/FSPT

ASU

OSU

3:30 p.m.

FSAZ/FSNW

Stanford

Oregon

5 p.m.

ABC/ESPN2

Washington

USC

5 p.m.

ESPN2/ESPN3.com

WSU (1-3 / 0-1) at UCLA (2-2 / 0-1)
The Bruins return home as conquering heroes. I’m going to go out on a limb and say the Cougars are preparing to stop the run.

Who do Wildcat fans want to win?
WSU. Some would say to root for UCLA to keep their national profile (and the Pac-10’s perceived strength) high but I say get the Cougars’ upset out of the way. And how funny would it be if Texas had to admit it lost to a team that lost to Wazzu?

ASU (2-2 / 0-1) at OSU (1-2 / 0-0)
Arizona fans doing advanced scouting will want to see Beaver QB Ryan Katz keep on racking up the incompletions while the OSU defense continues to give up 3rd down conversions.

Who do Wildcat fans want to win?
TBD. I can’t ask you to root for the Sun Devils two weeks in a row. Logic says you want Oregon State to keep struggling since they play in Tucson next week, but I expect the UA/OSU game to be a war no matter what so if you root for the Beavers to send ASU one step closer to another losing season I won’t hold it against you.

Stanford (4-0 / 1-0) at Oregon (4-0 / 1-0)
It’s too early for this game to be for all the marbles, but there are definitely a lot of marbles involved.

Who do Wildcat fans want to win?
Stanford. The winner will be the team Arizona (or anyone else) has to beat head-to-head if it wants to go to the Nose Hole. Winning at Stanford would be a slightly easier task as the Ducks haven’t lost a conference home game since 2007.

Washington (1-2 / 0-0) at USC (4-0 / 1-0)
The Huskies have had two weeks to try and bounce back from getting Holiday Bowled by Nebraska. The Trojans would love nothing more than to become the second 5-0 team in the conference.

Who do Wildcat fans want to win?
USC. Keep the dream of an AP national championship alive so the Trojans are motivated to do some damage against Stanford next week.

Cal (2-2 / 0-1) – bye
Cal is Arizona’s new best friend. Last year early-season wins against OSU and Stanford turned into strong wins as the year went on and almost provided the tie-breakers needed to win the league. The Cats are now hoping Cal goes on a big run, especially since the Bears host both Oregon and Stanford.

ARIZONA (4-0 / 1-0) – bye
The UA will be undefeated going into the second week of October. That’s the beauty of Arizona 10, Cal 9.

– – –

For the second straight week a game involving a Pac-10 team gets ESPN’s prime time slot and all the eyes that come with College GameDay. The good news for the conference is a Pac-10 team is guaranteed to win this time.

The Oregon/Stanford victor will spend the next week being showered with poll votes, national championship speculation and Heisman Trophy talk.

I think there is no question that you root for OSU this weekend the more I’ve thought about it. Sure, we don’t want OSU coming in with a lot of confidence next week, but we also don’t want them coming in desperate. An OSU team that still has something to play for at the end of the season could be mighty useful. They close @Stanford and vs. Oregon. Also, it just so much easier to root for them.
I agree with all of your other picks. Even if Oregon loses this weekend, I have the hardest time seeing Arizona pull off the win in Eugene. Over Stanford in Palo Alto is much easier to see.